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$38.00 NZD

Darkly funny, shockingly honest, Brothers in Arms is an unforgettable account of the brutal reality of war - every boring, scary, exciting moment - and the bonds of friendship that can never be destroyed.'If you could choose which two limbs got blown off, what would you go for?' Danny said. 'Your arms o
r your legs?'In July 2009 Geraint (Gez) Jones was sitting in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan with the rest of The Firm - Danny, Jay, Toby and Jake, his four closest friends, all junior NCOs and combat-hardened infantrymen. Thanks to the mangled remains of a Jackal vehicle left tactlessly outside their tent, IEDs were never far from their mind. Within days they'd be on the ground in Musa Qala with the rest of 3 Platoon - a mixed bunch of men Gez would die for. As they fight furiously, are pushed to their limits, hemmed in by IEDs and hampered by the chain of command, Gez starts to wonder what is the point of it all. The bombs they uncover on patrol, on their stomachs brushing the sand away, are replaced the next day. Firefights are a momentary victory in a war they can see is unwinnable. Gez is a warrior - he wants more than this. But then death and injury start to take their toll on The Firm, leaving Gez with PTSD and a new battle just beginning....Show more

$29.00 NZD

War is one of the greatest human evils. It has ruined livelihoods, provoked unspeakable atrocities and left countless millions dead. It has caused economic chaos and widespread deprivation. And the misery it causes poisons foreign policy for future generations. But, argues bestselling historian Ian Morr
is, in the very long term, war has in fact been a good thing. In his trademark style combining inter-disciplinary insights, scientific methods and fascinating stories, Morris shows that, paradoxically, war is the only human invention that has allowed us to construct peaceful societies. Without war, we would never have built the huge nation-states which now keep us relatively safe from random acts of violence, and which have given us previously unimaginable wealth. It is thanks to war that we live longer and more comfortable lives than ever before. And yet, if we continue waging war with ever-more deadly weaponry, we will destroy everything we have achieved; so our struggles to manage warfare make the coming decades the most decisive in the history of our civilisation. In War: What Is It Good For? Morris brilliantly dissects humanity's history of warfare to draw startling conclusions about our future....Show more

$38.00 NZD

Though World War II took place after the development of color photography, nearly all of the familiar images of it are in black and white--which tends to make the conflict feel more distant, more removed from our own lives and history, than it actually is.War in the Air changes that. Following the succe
ss of IWM's The Second World War in Colour, this book focuses on an aspect of the war that was unquestionably key to the Allied victory: the war in the air. In these pages, we see aircraft and pilots from a number of Allied nations, brought to life again in vibrant color that makes the heroism and sacrifice of the era more palpable than ever. Alongside these rarely seen images, Ian Carter, Senior Curator at IWM, examines how crucial aviation was to winning the war, from protecting the skies and waters of Britain and the Mediterranean to the roles of Bomber Command and the USAAF's nighttime strikes over Germany. Offering perspectives from the ground and from the air, these powerful images are an incredible document of World War II....Show more

$40.00 NZD

*Shortlisted for the 2018 Ballie Gifford Prize*
'THE BEST TRUE SPY STORY I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN LE CARRÉ
A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians
On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the
heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.
The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever......Show more